FAA’s Cultural Change On Inspections

FAA Flight Standards is working with the agency’s Office of the Chief Counsel (AGC) to help “redefine” the enforcement program, says Deputy Flight Standards Director John Duncan. Speaking at the Air Charter Safety Foundation Symposium, Duncan said agency officials want to take the approach of “how do we fix this, and if we can fix this, then we don’t need to do anything else.” Flight Standards Director John Allen last year outlined the agency’s plans to encourage inspectors first to work out minor issues with operators when possible rather than immediately jumping into an enforcement action. Duncan last week said the policies are in place for the shift, but the cultural change remains. “We have a cultural challenge to deal with this transition,” he says. “They’re people problems. They’re not policy problems.” That shift already has begun with the inspector workforce, he says. “Many of our people understand that’s the way we do business.” However, he acknowledges that the change “also is a cultural issue with the [AGC].”